Design Innovation can help you with mechanical design of components,
subassemblies and entire products. We're ideally positioned to be an as-needed
contributor to your design team. We're available when you need us.

We design for structural and performance requirements plus usability and
aesthetics, with a focus on cost-effective manufacturing and assembly.
Our experience covers a wide range of engineering and decorative materials,
including surface finishes that are durable and attractive. Additionally,
we have expertise at modifying commercially available plastic and metal
enclosures for getting small to medium volume products to market at a
lower cost than investing in a custom enclosure.

We're a Solidworks Manufacturing Network Partner. More
about why we use Solidworks 3D CAD. We also offer writing of assembly
manuals with photo and CAD illustrations, industrial photography, production
documentation and consulting on product design methodology for your company.

Some examples of our design and prototyping work:

Ford DeWalt Tool Link
RFID System - The mechanical design for this product included the
injection-molded antenna shroud, several steel support brackets, a machined
heatsink, two molded rubber seals, and die-cut thermal pads. We also modified
an existing die-cast environmentally sealed enclosure to hold the RFID
circuitry and a group of sealed connectors. All components and assemblies
tested passed impact, shock/vibration and environmental tests on their
first try. More about our work on Tool Link
RFID, and Ford's
own website about Tool Link.

ActionTracker - The mechanical and cosmetic design for this product
included the injection-molded enclosure and a waterjet-cut backplate and
seal assembly. We also modified an existing battery terminal to fit in
an extremely small space. The ActionTracker is water and impact resistant,
smaller than an iPod Nano and weighs less than 1oz.. Photo copyright
2008 by AWare Technologies Inc.

USB RFID Reader - For this product, an off-the-shelf enclosure was modified
with holes for the pushbuttons, LEDs, USB connector and mounting hardware.
A die-cut label was also created to fit in a molded recess in the enclosure
top. Photo copyright 2008 by ThingMagic
Inc.

Sheet Metal EMI Shields - These 2-part sheet metal EMI shields were
designed for a series of embedded RFID readers. The features were extremely
small and the fit of each part had to be very precise. The prototypes fit
perfectly on the first try. Photo copyright
2008 by ThingMagic Inc.

Lift Mechanism For A Designer Writing Desk - This mechanism
included structural parts made from stainless steel plate, plus gas springs,
torsion springs, precison bushings and stainless steel and Delrin hardware.
More about our work on the desk lift mechanism.

Initial Concept Prototype For The OLPC Computer Housing - The
mechanical and cosmetic design for this prototype included all the sheet
metal and machined parts for the aluminum shell and folding mechanism,
a polycarbonate display protector, sheet rubber gaskets, keyboard block,
and plastic bushings and endcaps. We also sourced the sheet metal and
fasteners, made all the other prototype components and assembled the prototypes.
CAD simulation of the opening and closing mechanism allowed the prototypes
to function perfectly from the first assembly onwards.
Laptop photo copyright 2005 USA Today.

Prototype For A Portable Electronic Product - The design work for
this product included a 4-part sheet metal enclosure, die-cut plastic and
adhesive components for positioning, securing and protecting the display,
and a die-cut decal for the top. Specific challenges in this project included
some complex cable routing and ensuring that the design allowed adequate
airflow through the unit. We built several prototypes of this device for
a Boston-area R&D firm.

Polycarbonate Medical Labware - These polycarbonate containers were
designed and built for a research group at Brigham and Women's Hospital
in Boston and are used for holding cell culture vessels in a medical lab.
The containers were designed in CAD and fabricated from polycarbonate tubes
and rods with silicone rubber O-rings to provide liquid-tight seals for
the cell culture vessels and adapter pieces. The adapter pieces are shown
in color for visual contrast. Polycarbonate was chosen for cell culture
compatibility, transparency, ability to withstand autoclaving, and ease
of machining. The first units built were immediately usable after initial
sterilization.